How it works...

Vikram began working in rural development in 1990 as a grassroots social worker. In 1997, he founded Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited or BFIL (formerly SKS Microfinance), which became one of the world’s largest microfinance companies. Vikram led BFIL to its IPO in 2010, steering BFIL to reach a market capitalization of $2.2 billion and an outreach of 7.3 million low-income borrowers across 120,000 villages. As of 2016, BFIL had disbursed $9.3 billion in loans. Vikram left BFIL in 2012 and is Chairperson Emeritus. He joined Vaya in 2014.

For his work in financial inclusion, TIME Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006. Vikram was also named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in India (Start-Up in 2006 and Business Transformation in 2010), the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader in 2009, the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year in India in 2006, and is a 1998 Echoing Green Fellow. He has a B.A. from Tufts, an M.A. from Yale, a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, was a Fulbright Scholar, and has worked with McKinsey & Company and the Worldwatch Institute.

He is the author of A Fistful of Rice: My Unexpected Quest to End Poverty Through Profitability (2010), published by Harvard Business Press. He is a Senior Fellow at the CEME at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, a Director in AgSri (a sustainable agriculture company) and in Bodhi Society (which provides education for under-privileged children), and on the advisory boards of the Indian School of Business and the Tufts University’s Tisch College.

Sateesh has 29 years of work experience across varied industries viz., Microfinance, Insurance, Clean Energy and Retail and successfully managed large teams nationally and other emerging markets. Building sustainable and progressive businesses through a strong combination of Sales, Operations and Strategic orientation is his forte.

Sateesh is credited for developing the solar products business through Microfinance sector at d.light which is now the biggest channel of business for the entire solar industry. He believes in robust partnerships, flawless implementation and motivated team to achieve high performance.

Earlier, as Executive VP, Operations at Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited (formerly SKS Microfinance Ltd), Sateesh had managed large teams and also established the ‘SKS’ brand with external stakeholders. He was involved in developing many industry standard policies and systems. As CEO of Royal Sporting House, he had developed retail distribution business of sports goods and as Regional Director of Aviva Life Insurance; he had increased the Bancassurance business multi-fold. Sateesh is a Mechanical Engineer and had done MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. He has also done an Executive Education program in Harvard Business School.

Dr. Biksham Gujja was instrumental in establishing AgSri Agricultural Services Pvt. Ltd. From 1993 to 2010, Dr. Gujja worked with WWF, based at Gland, Switzerland, where he started the Freshwater Programme. As Senior Policy Advisor, he contributed to such major international initiatives as the World Commission on Dams, the World Water Commission, the World Water Forum, and others. Dr. Gujja was also involved in establishing projects related to high-altitude wetlands and lakes in Himalayas, river dolphins, thirsty crops initiative, cotton initiative, developing appropriate responses for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, and traditional water management systems.

From 2003 onwards, he led a team of professionals in the WWF-ICRISAT Joint Project, which focused on improving water productivity for major crops like rice and sugarcane. As Team Leader, Dr. Gujja developed, refined, and implemented farm-based methods such as the Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) and System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which have now received global recognition and attention. Another critical area of focus for Dr. Gujja has been to establish civil society dialogue forums on specific issues such as water conflicts, the interlinking of rivers, and the Polavaram dam, to facilitate informed decision-making on major water infrastructure projects. He has managed projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, successfully mobilizing human and financial resources on water management for the WWF network. From 1987 to 1992, prior to his assignment with WWF-International, Dr. Gujja was Director of Deccan Development Society (DDS), a non-profit organisation working in rural Andhra Pradesh, India. As Director of DDS, he initiated many programs on sustainable agriculture, social forestry, and traditional water management. He was also part of the team that designed the Krishi Vignana Kendra of Medak district in Andhra Pradesh, India during its initial stages. Before this, he worked in the Mineral Exploration Corporation as Senior Manager.

Dr. Gujja has published extensively on water management and improving agricultural productivity. Dr. Gujja was a post-doctoral Fellow at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Shankar Ramaswami is the Executive Director of the Centre for Justice Studies at Jindal Global University in Delhi. His research and teaching focus is on migrant labour and poverty. He is currently completing a book about migrant workers in Delhi. Prior to Jindal, he was a Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University where he taught courses on anthropology and literature and he works on globalization, migration and urban workers.

He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago, and an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College.

Lakshminarayanan is a Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant with over 18 years’ experience in financial management, budgeting, treasury, financial reporting and controllership, cost management, audit, risk management and taxation.

Prior to Vaya, he worked with AppLabs (a CSC company), Bharat Financial Inclusion or BFIL (formerly SKS Microfinance), Goldman Sachs, ICICI Bank, and KPMG. He is an experienced finance leader who has managed multi-product and multi-location teams.

At ICICI Bank, he was part of the internal audit team and was responsible for evaluating the internal controls and risk management processes in their International Banking Operations and their Information Technology departments. At BFIL, he was the Financial Controller and was responsible for financial reporting, controllership functions, taxation, and cost management.